Familial Ties
by lyssdom
Summary: Andromeda tells her family that she is going to marry a muggleborn.


**A/N:** _I take some liberties, certainly, assuming that she would have been betrothed after she had graduated. But it seems to fit the pureblood set of values. xD_

* * *

She walked into the Black family manor and settled in, as if the home fit her like a glove. It had used to, had once fit perfectly - but she was different, and the fit was no longer as perfect as it had been, before. Before she'd doubted, before she had come into herself. Before Ted. "Andromeda, do tell us why you have called us together." Her father sat in the chair to her left, looking bored with the proceedings. Assuming, she figured, that his middle daughter wanted to discuss the terms of another of her whimsies. And her mother sat across from her, sipping tea daintily, awaiting whatever Andromeda would toss at her. She had been called ungrateful, and perhaps Andromeda was.

She would rather be ungrateful than give up love.

Bellatrix sat with Narcissa, to Andromeda's right. Her family. Her family.

She ignored the tears that wanted to rise, the burning in her throat, and spoke directly to her mother. "I will not marry the man you have betrothed me to." She watched as her mother sighed, settling the tea cup down on the saucer. Her father just closed his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face. "Give your reasons, Andromeda, on why you find that you cannot marry the boy. He is respectable, wealthy. Handsome, even, your sisters agreed." And that was that, Andromeda thought. Respectable. Wealthy. Attractive. "I do not love him. I cannot love him." Druella Black, taking a moment to wonder if all of her friends had to go through this rebellion with their children, countered. "You will come to love him. As I came to love your father. And you will respect him, and -"

Andromeda couldn't stand it, couldn't stand the fact that her mother couldn't see what was in front of her. A love like her parents had? The very thought chilled her, when she could compare their union to her own with Ted. Their marriage was so cold, so hardened, but she and Ted were bright and colorful and just so _happy_. "I love someone else. I am going to marry him." And now Druella looked distraught, looking straight at the husband she proclaimed love for. He stared at his daughter for a moment before speaking. "Who is this man you claim to love? I have no knowledge of him, but perhaps, if he is good enough -" and Andromeda interrupted again, standing up to quench the need to shout and cry and demand them to see what surely had to be blinding them. Why hadn't they taken notice of the fact that she was so unhappy? "Muggleborn. He is a muggleborn, and-"

Her mother dropped her tea cup, the delicate china shattering on the floor. Calling on the composure that had been instilled into her since birth, Andromeda did not wince at the sound. "_What_?" she demanded, but Andromeda said nothing. Her father's face was red, Narcissa looked stunned, and Bellatrix was scowling. "This, Andromeda Astarte Black, is unacceptable. Such a statement is vile, and you will not be awarded for this, this - this despicable stunt! You will marry the Yaxley boy, as is planned. And you will break off every contact with this _Mudblood_ you have been associating with. Immediately."

It was a funny thing, Andromeda decided, that in the face of her father's tirade, she became calm. It was all so simple, at its core. "And if I refuse?" He stared at her, silent now. Her mother picked up the gauntlet. "You will not." Simple, Andromeda thought. So, so simple. With a single wistful glance at her sisters, neither of whom had said a word, Andromeda turned to leave. The burning inside of her was threatening to tear her apart, tear her open, and she would not cry in front of them, wouldn't give them the satisfaction. If they had never noticed how unhappy she was before, she would certainly not let them see it now. "This discussion is not over, Andromeda!" It was shouted at her, and at the doorway, she turned back.

"It is. There was no discussion. It was a decision that was decided for me, without my consent, and I will not stand by passively as you marry me off, as you force to your will, force me to be _unhappy_. I love a Muggleborn, and he loves me. He has proposed. I am going to marry him. Do with that what you will." And so she turned and left, ignoring the shouts and the accusations and the words that slashed at her when she was already bloody.

The only thing that mattered was getting out, getting away, before she broke.

She went to Ted.


End file.
